Memory

Last evening, as I waited for the F train on the way to see Yo La Tengo, I saw this guy doing amazing yo-yo tricks on the platform. When I was a kid, I recall Duncan yo-yos being the fad before skateboards. But at least last night, at Jay Street/Boro Hall, and then aboard the train, it was enjoying a renaissance.

His name is Justin Weber. In our two-stop chat,told me the modern yo-yo was invented in the Philippines, and brought to America in the 1920s by Pedro Flores. Shortly after, Donald Duncan bought the Flores Yo-Yo Company and trademarked the term - which in the Ilokano language, means “come back”.

I saw the Feelies last night(!) and will have a post shortly, but at least in terms of bands, I try to keep things more or less chronological around here; so I wanted to say I caught the Baseball Project at the Bell House, a couple of weeks back. They are the rock “super-group” formed around their shared passion for our national pastime.

“In our sundown perambulations of late, through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of youngsters playing ‘base’, a certain game of ball.... Let us go forth awhile and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our close rooms.... the game of ball is glorious.” — Walt Whitman

As Ken Burns or Bernard Malamud would tell you, baseball is stories and metaphor, and Scott McCaughey and Steve Wynn are really good songwriters, so the songs stand on their own, whether or not you’re a baseball fanatic (I’m not). I go for the music, not the trivia — though Harvey Haddix is someone worth knowing about.

When I saw them last year, Mike Mills filled in, but at this gig, his fellow REM’er Peter Buck, was in at his regular spot. Craig Finn of the Hold Steady came up to sing a funny song he wrote about his hometown Minnesota Twins.

So a girl who got a pair of fake tits so people would pay attention to her (and ignore how stupid she is), gets them taken out, because people were only paying attention to her tits? I’m confused!

She described her decision, thus:

“In an effort to reinvent myself, in a cut throat industry that was becoming more and more competitive the deeper I swam, I made the decision to go against the grain and remove my implants.”

Damn, get duPont Columbia Journalism School Award out! Who needs fake tits when you can write prose like that? And now they are out, and she’s surprised no one is paying attention to her and she is unemployed. Sweet, merciful crap.

Sterger said,

“For years, a lot of my critics have attributed any success that I’ve had to a great plastic surgeon, and I never once really argued with them. ... My implants got my foot in the door, but I truly don’t believe that they are the reason I am still around.”

Ms. Sterger, in no way do I countenance, or think you deserved the sexual harassment that I have no doubt you suffered at the hands of Brett Farve. But since you decided a long time ago not to use your brain, it has clearly atrophied. Honestly, I would think about getting your implants put back. Either that, or get a personality less loathsome and vapid than the one you currently have.

The star of the San Francisco University High School track team, she collapsed just two yards from the finish, but crawled to the line in honor of her coach, Jim Tracy. Tracy had built the team into state champions before being diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) several years ago.

Tracy, who now must use braces to stand and walk, was on hand to see his star athlete finish.

Reynold’s completion of the race helped the team to its eighth state championship, making it the most successful cross-country team in California history.

“And where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within.”

Yesterday morning, on my way to tutoring, I found a bunch of folks practicing tai chi, on the courthouse steps at Foley Square.

What many people may not realize, is that while it’s mainly practiced by older folks in this country, as a series of slow exercises, it has its roots in martial arts. Just as with capoeira - a lot of the moves were originally blocks, sweeps, strikes.

I did tae kwon do for a bunch of years – my knees still make all sorts of clacking noises, and as I watched these guys yesterday(actually, mostly women), I recognized a lot from the forms that I used to do. Below is one of my favorites.

The guy is very good, but I’ll say this – when you do these hyeong, a big deal is made of the ‘snap’ your dobok (uniform) makes. People put in a lot of starch for competitions. Still, I think there is a bit of audio ‘enhancement’ being done here.

DeWayne Wise, making an incredible catch in the top of the 9th, to preserve Mark Buehrle's perfect game. The Times yesterday, said it "might be the greatest in baseball history." I'm not a baseball historian, and always thought the Willie Mays' catch was the best ever, certainly until now. However, while Mays' catch took place in the World Series, a perfect game wasn't on the line. An incredible effort.